The six steps to develop the scale:
- Literature review - Define the construct precisely and identify existing measures - e.g., researching scholarly definitions of educational self-efficacy
- Interviews and focus groups - Align conceptualization with respondent understanding - e.g., comparing academic definitions of self-efficacy with students’ perspectives
- Synthesis - Reconcile academic and lay understandings, using respondent vocabulary where appropriate - e.g., creating a list of sub-themes for educational self-efficacy
- Preliminary item development - Create items representing identified themes, slightly more than needed for the final scale - e.g., developing 8-9 items for a 5-item self-efficacy scale
- Expert validation - Gather feedback from field experts on item relevance and potential improvements - e.g., having self-efficacy experts review and critique developed items
- Cognitive pretesting - Conduct one-on-one interviews to ensure consistent item interpretation - e.g., asking respondents to rephrase items and think aloud while answering
Cognitive pretesting with potential respondents is crucial to assesses item performance and scale consistency. This analysis includes examining item means, variability, inter-item correlations, and overall reliability.